The Ring Series
by Tyra Cambell
Summary: I continued my walk home and heard the footsteps again. This time they were louder. It wasn't a steady tap tap tap anymore now it was a run. A loud thump thump thump


The tiny light from the curtains light gleamed through the window and beamed onto my face. Its intense heat forced me to move in a different position in my bed. The light reminded me that I didn't set my alarm.

I heard footsteps coming up the stairs into my room. I closed my eyes hoping whoever came into my room thought I was asleep.

My mom came walking through the door. She walked over to the curtains and opened it wide up. The irritating light soon beamed onto my face. So much for moving.

"Wake up Alex! The weekends over" she said cheerfully.

I groaned and faced my back towards her. I hate waking up for school so early.

"You have five seconds to get up. Five. Four. Three. Two." she counted the number sown with her fingers.

"I'm up! I'm up!" I said not wanting to push it too far.

I pulled the heavy comforter off of me in a rush. I dragged myself out of bed and, forced myself to go to the bathroom to get ready. The first thing I saw was my reflection in the mirror. I think just by looking at myself woke me out of daze. My brown, (supposedly) straight, hair was sticking out in each direction. I reached for my brush trying to smooth out the mess in my head. It took me about 10 minutes to get that mess out. By the time I was finished my head was soar.

Once I was done with that job, I grabbed my toothbrush to brush my teeth. No matter how hard I scrubbed it still had a yellow tint to it. Why can't my teeth be pearly white?

I turned to open the door but someone one opened it before me. My head banged against the door. I grabbed my forehead and stumbled to the ground.

"Ouch!" I cried. My five year old brother appears out of the door.

"Oops sorry." he looked down at me with his sweet innocent face.

"It's ok, Ron," I got up to ruffle his hair. He smiled up at me and got his stool to brush his teeth.

I walked back to my room to get dressed. I picked out a green t-shirt with fancy designs on it and a pair of skinny jeans.

My bedroom room door busted open. I really need a lock on that door.

"Schoo- Whoa! Put on some clothes!" my brother covered his eyes. Sadly I was half way putting on my bra so my brother saw some things he shouldn't have seen.

"Well you could have knocked Aaron! Instead of busting through the door like James Bond!" I said furiously putting on my clothes.

"I was going to tell you school starts in ten minutes!" Aaron started to uncover his eyes.

I hadn't realized that school starts in ten minutes. I heard footsteps go back down the stairs. I followed him to the kitchen and, grabbed my backpack by the door and my ID.

I ran the way to school. I couldn't be late. This was already my third time this week. Actually probably my fourth time, but who can ever keep track?

I was such in a rush to school that I wasn't watching where I was going. Something beneath my right foot caught on to my ankle causing me to trip. I stumbled to the ground; the cement rough against my skin. I tried to protect my fall with my hands but ended up scraping them. But that didn't help any because I landed on my face. It reduced _some_ of the impact on my face, but not much because my right cheek scraped against the rough cement. The dirt and gravel went into my cuts. I felt my elbow scrape against a rock and blood started to trickle.

I sat there for about a minute stunned at how scraped up I was. As I sat there I started to feel the burn of the cuts I had on my elbow and hands. I felt tears start to well up in my eyes, but I sucked them back in and pitied on myself for being such a wuss. After sitting there I decided to get up. _Now I'm really late for school_,Ithought_. _I dusted the access dirt off my shirt and jeans. My jeans had a tiny hole forming. _Great._

I looked around to see what had tripped me, but I couldn't find anything. I started to get frustrated, but calmed myself down. I looked more carefully this time and found a ring.

I scooped up the ring letting it weigh in my hand. The ring was gorgeous. It had a silver rim that twisted in and out like vines. What really caught my attention was the big, bold, blue diamond that glistened against the sun. Why would somebody drop something this beautiful? I was so engulfed by its beauty that I forgot to ask the real question to myself. How in the world could this small thing trip me? You can't trip on something like this you would have to slip. But I swore that something caught onto my ankle. It felt like a tug.

Once again I looked for anything that could've tripped me, but I found nothing. Nothing but cement and gravel.

_Maybe the ring has some type on magical powers that can trip people? _I laughed at myself for thinking something so absurd.

I carefully slid the ring onto my index finger. It fit perfectly like a glove. I stared at it once more adoring the vines that wrapped around my finger and how the blue diamond matched my eyes. I had to break away from my gaze on the ring because I had to start walking to school.

The tardy bell had already rung by the time I got there. The first thing I did was run to the bathroom before anybody saw me. I cleaned off my cuts on my hand and tried as best as I could to clean the scrape off of my elbow, but the blood was still coming out. I gave up and decided to sign in late and just go to the nurse.

"Honey, what happened to you?" she said passing me the tardy slip. This was probably the first time Mrs. Garcia was actually concerned about me. She was the one that handed out all of the tardy slips at the front office. Half of them were probably to me. I wrote _tripped on the way to school_ on the tardy slip as my excuse for being late.

"You look like you got hit by a bus!" her eyebrows were knitted together in a concerned look.

"Close enough," I said handing her back my tardy slip. She signed it off and handed me back a replica of it.

"How about you go to the nurse and check out that nasty cut on your elbow?" she said.

Wow. This lady was really going to try and fool me with her niceness. I'm telling you this NEVER happens. I'm going to take advantage of it.

"Yeah. It does look pretty bad. I'll go to the nurse now." I said. I walked away limping obviously I hadn't even hurt my legs.

"Aw poor baby," I heard Mrs. Garcia said as I walked away.

The nurse cleaned and bandaged my elbow. I told her about how I tripped but left out the ring part. She called my parents to inform them on my injury. She said I was fine and I could go to class.

I tried to walk into class as quietly as I could, but the door slammed loudly. Mrs. Peterson hates it when someone came in late.

"Is there a reason you're late Ms. Thornton?" she asked me raising a eyebrow. I handed her the tardy slip and she gave me a look of concern and put it in her desk. I slid into my desk next to my best friend Chloe.

"Whoa! What happened to you?" she whispered to me.

"I just tripped on the way to school," I responded to her.

"How?" she asked

"Umm…I…uh…tripped on my shoe string?" I stuttered.

"What happened?" she said still pushing the question.

"Tripped on my shoe string," I said trying to convince her.

"Your holding something back Alex," Chloe said

"I already told you I tripped on my shoestring," I pointed toward my perfectly tied shoestring.

"When are you going to tell me what _really _happened?" she said irritated

"But I did trip on my shoe string!" I said a little bit over a whisper. Okay, fine not a whisper more like a shout.

"Is there something you want to share with us Ms. Thornton and Ms. Henry?" my teacher said walking towards us with her ruler. I swear she was going to smack us with it.

"No," Chloe said before I said something smart. Chloe face started to turn red. I have to give kudos for that one.

"Next time I hear you talk you're going to the principal's office," she ordered walking away from us.

"Been there done that!" _Crap!_ That was supposed to be in my head! The teacher turned right back around and walked to me sternly.

"What was that?" her eyes hardened.

"Are you deaf now because I'm sure you heard me?" I snapped back at her.

"Are you insane," Chloe whispered to me.

"Just because you tripped and fell and have a few boo boos doesn't mean I'm not going to be light with you. Come with me right now you're going to the principal's office!" she pointed a finger at me and moved it down to the ground.

"Oh! I'm so scared!" I said sarcastically. I heard a few chuckles from the class Gosh! I'm so stupid for talking back. The teacher grabbed my arm and walked me to the principal's office. Can't I ever keep my mouth shut!

The principle gave me a long talk about how I should never do that again and I need to show more respect…blah blah, blah. He called my mom and I could hear her over the phone saying "She will not do that again I promise" He hung up the phone and _still_ gave me the long never do that again talk. The principle finally dismissed me.

Every one stared at me when I went to the classroom. The rest of the day was long. Everyone was staring about me like I just had blood all over my hands.

At the end of the day I slammed my locker shut.

"A little upset much?" Chloe asked.

"Yeah!" I stated the obvious.

"Oh my gosh we have a pep rally today and you're not dressed in your outfit!" I hadn't even realized that she was wearing the yellow, red, and white outfit.

"Crap! Do you have an extra outfit?" I asked. Chloe started looking through her locker and pulled out an extra outfit.

"Thanks!" I ran off to the bathroom to change into my cheerleading outfit. It was a little small but it'll do. I ran into the gym. All of my cheer mates were there. We did our regular cheer. Which I thought was lame. The only reason I joined this stupid cheerleading thing is so I could please my mom. Everyone booed on our cheering. I was ready to cuss the crowd out but I decided to keep my cool before I get in even more trouble.

Once the pep rally was over. Chloe pulled me over to the side while the rest of the school rushed out the building.

"What has gotten into you today!" she hissed into my face.

"Gosh you sound like my mother!" I replied to her trying to get away but she grasped onto my arm.

"Would you quit with smart talk jokes? You've been really weird today. What happened?" she still grabbed onto my arm.

"Let go Chloe!" I said.

"Did that trip get you all grouchy today or something? I'm used to your usual comeback but now it's getting ridiculous." Chloe said with a hint of concern in her voice. "Text me if something's wrong Alex."

She finally let go of her grasp. I rushed out of the building. I wanted to get away from her tight grip on my arm. Away from the crowded school and the angry teachers.

Four blocks away from my house I heard footsteps following me. I ignored the sound and continued walking. But once again I heard the sound of the light tap of shoes. I slowed down and so did the footsteps. I stopped. It stopped. I walked. It walked. My curiosity got the best of me. I looked over my shoulder and saw no one.

"Who's there?" I asked. But all I heard was the sound of my ragged breathing.

I continued my walk home and heard the footsteps again. This time they were louder. It wasn't a steady _tap tap tap_ anymore now it was a run. A loud _thump thump thump_. I turned completely around and saw a well built figure running in black towards me. My heart nearly jumped out of my chest. I stood frozen. Watching him come closer to me.

"The Ring!" the man in black yelled.

Finally my senses hit me. I turned around and busted out in a dead run. My legs moving as fast as they could let me. He was catching up to me, fast. I was only one block away from home before he was heel on heel with me.

He touched my shoulder with his hand. His hand sent a shock of fear down my spine. I looked at his hand on my shoulder and saw an exact replica of the ring on his index finger. I ignored that fact and took my backpack off and swung it at him in the face. He stumbled backwards grabbing his face.

SCORE!

I was on my street still running. When I saw that the man wasn't following me I slowed down to a walk. I stepped into the safety of my house and locked the door. Nobody was home.

I laid my back against the door breathing heavily and slid slowly to the floor. Once I calmed down and started to breathe regularly. I walked upstairs to my room and plopped onto the bed.

I stared at the ring on my finger and looked at how much bad luck it had gotten me today. The ring was so beautiful but caused such bad things. I looked at it with disgust, took it off my finger and threw it across the room, and left it there not wanting to look at it again.

_If something's wrong text me. _Chloe's voice rang in my head.

Something's wrong.

I grabbed my backpack and pulled out my phone. I went through the contacts and clicked on Chloe. I sent her a message.

Me:_ Something's wrong._

Chloe: _What? What is it Alex?_

Me: _When I tripped this morning I tripped on a string. But the only thing I found was a ring. It was a pretty ring so I kept it and put it on. But I TRIPPED on something not slipped._

Chloe: _So that's all that you had to tell me is that you found a ring? You lied to me about the shoestring. _

Me: _You won't even let me finish the story. As I was walking home from school today somebody was chasing me. He followed me all the way home so I hit him in the face with my backpack and he fell to the ground. I think that ring is bad luck. _

Chloe: _okay so basically you found a ring and it gave you bad luck. And a man was chasing you. Sounds believable. Tell me what really happened Alex! _

Me: _I just did!_

Chloe:_ Whatever. Hey I gtg txt u tomorrow._

I heard somebody coming in through the door. My heart began racing thinking it was the man in black.

"Were home!" my mom said singing cheerfully. She does this every time I get a call from school. She acts all happy and jolly just so it seems like I'm off of the hook. But at some point she's going to burst.

I heard Aaron, Ron, and Dad come through the door too.

I sat in my room four two hours thinking about that stupid ring. My friend won't believe anything I say. I almost got kidnapped. I scraped my elbow. I was chased by a maniac. Seems like an average day.

The maniac he…had the same ring as me. The same blue diamond and the same vines. Why would he have the same ring as me? Who is he? Didn't he yell "the ring"? Why would he yell that anyway?

Speaking of that ring. Where did I throw it? I pulled myself out of the bed and began to search for it. I threw it across the room. I walked around searching for it. I felt a tug on my ankle and stepped back. The same tug I felt when I tripped. I looked down and placed my foot in that exact same spot and saw a shimmer of blue light. I jumped back in surprise and placed my foot back there and a sparkle of blue light shown threw in a form of a string.

The blue shimmer of light soon transformed into a shape of a ring. A ring with silver vines that wove in and out, with a big bold blue diamond. The same ring I threw across the room. I picked up the ring and studied it more carefully. There wasn't any buttons or anything.

"So this is what tripped me? An ring that transforms into a string?" at the word transform the ring suddenly changed into a sharp dagger.

Silver vines were wrapped around the hilt of the dagger. Blue diamonds were placed at the very bottom of the hilt. The dagger its self was gorgeous. But very dangerous with ragged cut points.

"What the heck?" I muttered to myself. I dropped the dagger and watched it thump back on the floor as a ring.

That ring just turned into a dagger and back! It also tripped me this morning. This stupid ring must have magical powers or something? This time I didn't laugh at myself.

"Honey! Dinner's ready everyone come to the table!" my mom shouted.

I hurriedly put the ring back on my right index finger and ran downstairs.

Once I was down stairs my mom kept looking at me like I just committed murder. It was a very frustrating dinner. She kept giving me the evil eye. Remember when I said she was going to burst some time? It's coming soon.

"What were you thinking talking back to a teacher like that!" she said slamming the fork down. The whole family turned their heads toward her. They were caught off guard by her sudden burst of anger.

"Who me?" I asked.

"No not you darling I was just talking to Casper. Why would I be mad if you yelled at a teacher?" she said sarcastically. It runs in the family.

"Oh. Okay then sorry Casper." I said looking to my left pretending Casper the ghost was there.

"You Alex! You're fourteen and still don't know how to act right" Mom shouted.

"What did I do?" I asked innocently trying to push her buttons.

"You know exactly what happened!" she said cutting into the piece of steak furiously.

"Oh yeah! I talked back a teacher. That's right!" I acted as if I was recalling back a memory.

"What were you thinking Alex?" she yelled. She was starting to cut into the plate.

The family was watching us like a ping pong match.

"I was thinking the teacher was being UN reasonable," I replied stuffing peas into my mouth.

"You are so despicable Alex. Are you insane?" how many times have I heard that one?

"Just a little," I said

"Go to your room…NOW!" she pointed her finger up to the steps.

I marched up the steps to my room. Stupid mom. Stupid teachers. Stupid fall. Most of all Stupid Ring.

When I got to my room all of my text messages to Chloe were gone. I looked around but still no one was there. I felt a buzz in my hand; I just got a new text message. It was an unknown number.

Unknown number: _Be careful don't tell anyone your new secret about the ring. We're coming for you._


End file.
